Local Leads: 10/26/10

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The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:

ICC OPENS SOON Baltimore Sun: "Near its western end in Montgomery County, parts of the long-awaited and long-reviled Intercounty Connector look as if they could open to traffic Wednesday. The eastbound lanes are paved, striped and lined with guardrails. The landscaping is complete beneath sound barriers that already have vines creeping to the top. Electronic devices that will collect tolls hang from overhead gantries. The road surface is smooth enough that earlier this month, hundreds of runners took part in a charity race there. On the westbound side of the highway, the ICC clearly has weeks of work to go before its first section can open. But a recent tour of the $2.5 billion construction project in suburban Washington showed visitors 51/2 miles of six-lane highway that are more than 90 percent complete and steady progress on the rest."

SQUIRRELS GOING NUTSSun Gazette: " For the second year in a row, Mother Nature is providing enough nuts to tide Arlington’s squirrels through the winter and next spring. Alonso Abugattas, a naturalist with the county government’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources, calls 2010 “a bumper year” for acorn production in the local area. “Although there are of course always some local geographic differences, it seems most areas had tons of nuts,” said.

RESTAURANT TAX SCOFFLAWS BEWAREWashington Examiner: "The Arlington County treasurer will meet with the county prosecutor this week to press for legal action against a closed Arlington coffee shop. Murkey Coffee owner Nicholas Cho owes Arlington $54,000 in unpaid taxes, according to the county’s assessment. Cho still owes back taxes on a shop that closed in 2009 and the county is going to court after efforts to work out a payment agreement failed, Arlington Treasurer Frank O’Leary said. The county is also considering pursuing legal action against Wall Street Deli, another closed Arlington restaurant, though officials in the treasurer’s office say they aren’t ready to present the case to prosecutors, O’Leary said. Together, the two businesses owe more than $110,000 in unpaid taxes to Arlington."